FIRE SENSATION
PIHA REMAINS MYSTERY
EMPTY COFFIN IN GRAVE
NEW PLOT REOPENED
ARREST OP TALBOT
(Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, this day. A sensational sequel to the Piha fire mystery and the allegation that Gordon Thomas McKay, a Sydney business man, was burned to death, occurred to-day when the Auckland police opened a comparatively new grave at Waikumete cemetery to find the coffin empty. Subsequently, James Arthur Talbot, the companion of McKay at Piha when the bach was 'burnt, was arrested by detectives on a charge of improperly interfering with human remains. He will appear in the Police Court tomorrow.
The examination of the grave and the arrest of Talbot is expected to have an important bearing on the major mystery of the fire, which has engaged the attention of the Auckland police since the morning of February 12, when a four-roomed shack in Sylvia avenue, Piha, was destroyed by fire. The human remains found in the gutted building were alleged by Talbot to be those of McKay.
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Bibliographic details
Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19885, 11 March 1939, Page 7
Word Count
167FIRE SENSATION Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19885, 11 March 1939, Page 7
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